CIC Seminar 2016 l Herodotus

The Center for Hellenic Studies would like to extend their greatest thanks and appreciation to all of those who participated in this summer’s Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) seminar. This summer participants worked their way through the nine books of Herodotus’ Histories while also reading secondary literature in order to present these texts to students across the nation.

This year we were pleased to have 17 professors from several disciplines join us for the seminar. These concentrations included English, History, Classics, Philosophy, Political Science, and International Studies.

Participants discussed and raised questions about the work of Herodotus and the many intricate details of his work. These topics included, but are not limited to: ideas of cultural identity, authorship, kingship and gender, and battle scenes. In addition to the nine books of Histories, participants also gained insight from reading several secondary texts by experts and scholars regarding particular stories, such as the story of Gyges, and other information not only giving cultural background and inspiring bigger questions but also drawing parallels between Herodotus’ work to other works, such as Homer.

At the end of the seminar, participants shared ideas for how they would incorporate Herodotus into classes that they will teach either this upcoming fall or in the near future.

We would like to extend a special thanks to Prof. Gregory Nagy from Harvard University and Prof. Kenny Morrell from Rhodes College for their work as directors of this year’s CIC seminar.